MEDIA RELEASE
19 May 2010
FARM & ENVIRONMENTAL OPEN DAY
SHINES NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT ON REGION
The SLOPES TO SUMMIT FARM & ENVIRONMENTAL OPEN DAY, to be held this Sunday from
9.30am – 3.00pm at “Annandayle South”, Annandale Road, off the Hume Highway at Woomargama,
shines a national spotlight on the region.
A fun and informative family event, the Open Day will launch the Slopes to Summit project which is part
of one Australia’s largest-scale conservation programs, the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative.
Slopes to Summit has been chosen as one of five priority areas across NSW for the Initiative.
According to Slopes to Summit spokesperson, Alison Skinner, the project promotes how productivity
and conservation can coexist.
“We have some really inspirational landholders in the region who are doing some great things to
regenerate, reconnect and conserve native habitat. Not only does this create safe havens for our native
plants and animals, but it has the knock-on effect of making the landscape more resilient, more
productive and more sustainable in the long-term,” says Skinner.
The Open Day is being held at one of the region’s most interesting farms, “Annandayle South”, a
working beef cattle property owned by Andrew and Anne Hicks who have undertaken extensive
conservation work. There’ll be a guided tour of the property during the day.
The day also includes talks on a range of topics of interest to local landholders and the general public
including healthy soils, pest management, native grasses, and biodiversity in the backyard. For those
wishing to get their hands dirty, they’ll be a demonstration of “clayballing” a unique way of revegetating
tricky areas. There’ll also be a tour of the region’s “backyard”—Woomargama National Park—led by
“Ranger Dave”.
It will be an action-packed day with reasonably priced helicopter joy rides, bbq and native cuisine and
kids’ activities.
The Slopes to Summit project is a community partnership coordinated locally by the Nature
Conservation Trust of NSW. It brings together major environmental management organisations,
researchers, and community groups in the Murray catchment and complements the work already being
done by the Murray CMA and Holbrook Landcare, who are both key players in this new project.
MEDIA CONTACT:
LIZ TILLEY, GREAT EASTERN RANGES INITIATIVE
Phone: 6229 7131
Mobile: 0407 921 323
Regional landscape images are available via the Great Eastern Ranges Flickr site at
NEWS 
